The host, Dan Carlin, talks about all kinds of historical events and the impacts they had on the world, but he does so from unusual and thought provoking perspectives.

Unfortunately (and yet fortunately), the episodes are so in depth that only about one is produced a month. Believe me, they’re well worth the wait. Each episode runs about forty minutes (give or take ten minutes) and focus on topics ranging from Hitler to the Great Depression to the Bubonic plague. But again, these are not your typical history lessons. — I’ve listened to everyone.

Here is a list of the first fifteen episodes. I pulled these right from Dan Carlin’s site. I hope he doesn’t mind.

Show 15 – Desperate Times (.mp3 41:57, 30 Aug 2007)
The tough economic climate after the First World War fostered the growth of radicalism around the world. Did it also create tougher people? Dan looks at the connection between tough times and the “Greatest Generation”.

Show 14 – The Macedonian Soap Opera (.mp3 49:23, 18 Jul 2007)
When Alexander the Great bequeathed his empire “to the strongest” he set off a funeral contest that shook the world for decades. Murder, marriage, intrigue,and drama all feature prominently in the story.

Show 13 – Bubonic Nukes (.mp3 47:30, 13 Jun 2007)
What would happen if half the population died in a short period of time? Dan looks at the Black Death and other plagues that created almost apocalyptic conditions in the past…and maybe in the future.

Show 12 – Steppe Stories (.mp3 58:34, 8 May 2007)
Blood-sucking Scythian warriors, tattooed ice mummies, Amazons killing so they can mate, pot smoking head-hunters, scalp-taking, koumiss-drinking Mongols, Turks, Huns, and Aliens. What’s not to like?

Show 11 – Thoughts on Churchill (.mp3 53:45, 11 Apr 2007)
We almost called this show “Things about Churchill that have interested Dan”. Dan takes a look at various elements of the dramatic life and career of the great British leader.

Show 10 – The What-Ifs Of 1066 (.mp3 47:31, 13 Mar 2007)
How might history have been changed if the events of the momentous year 1066 had turned out differently? Dan examines Normans, Vikings, Saxons, Bastards, Conquerers, Confessors, Godwinsons and Hardratas.

Show 9 – Darkness Buries the Bronze Age (.mp3 33:43, 16 Feb 2007)
What was the cause of the collapse of the Bronze Age? War? Famine? Natural disaster? Sauron the Dark Lord? Dan looks at all the potential villains…except for Sauron.

Show 8 – Scars of the Great War (.mp3 40:34, 27 Jan 2007)
Dan looks at the shock and awe caused by the First World War and marvels at how connected we still are to the empire-shattering effects of the conflict contemporaries simply referred to as The Great War.

Show 7 – The X-History Files (.mp3 31:55, 27 Dec 2006)
Napoleon is supposed to have said that “History is a set of lies agreed upon”. With that in mind, Dan looks at some of the alternative and pseudo history ideas that many people embrace.

Show 6 – Shield of the West (.mp3 59:04, 08 Dec 2006)
Spartans, Athenians, Persians and references to Star Trek all make appearances in this look at the dramatic and extremely consequential Greek and Persian wars.

Show 5 – Meandering Through the Cold War (.mp3 48:29, 14 Nov 2006)
Dan meanders through a conversation about causes and effects of the Cold War without ever talking much about the actual events of the conflict.

Show 4 – Romancing The Tribes (.mp3 31:43, 24 Oct 2006)
Native American chief Tecumseh and Gallic king Vercingetorix both tried to unify their tribal peoples to face overwhelming foes. Dan examines the romance of their lost causes.

Show 3 – Organization of Peace (.mp3 42:09, 4 Oct 2006)
The early 20th century League of Nations stood for peace, cooperation, disarmament and international understanding. What happened?

Show 2 – Guns & Horses (.mp3 34:53, 12 Sep 2006)
The West is Mike Tyson and the East is Muhammad Ali in this episode as Dan mixes Art Bell, with Hans Delbruck in this look at a possible reason for the military decline of the near East.

Show 1 – Alexander versus Hitler (.mp3 16:45, 27 Jul 2006)
Dan compares the way the modern world sees Adolf Hitler with the way history views Alexander the Great and wonders if the two men weren’t more alike than different.

They’re even throwing a party tonight to commemorate this exciting event. I’ll be there in spirit only.

So what’s the big deal about IPTV? Well, similar to how downloadable movies will be the eventual death of video stores (and perhaps even the dvd), IPTV could put the final nail in the coffin of broadcast television. A little extreme you say? I think not! True, broadcast television will always be around, but it will be more comparable to what A.M. radio is today. This summer, broadcast television reached it’s all time lowest viewership in recorded history. This is because more and more people are finding their entertainment on the internet. Whether it be from video sites like YouTube or podcasting networks like TWiT.tv or in persistent online gaming worlds such as World of Warcraft. The latter boasts an impressive 6 million subscribers ranging from middle school kids to business executives.

IPTV isn’t quite ready for the mainstream yet. There is still one missing piece of the puzzle. For the masses to except this new technology, there will have to be an easy way to get the videos from your computer to your TV. This is where Apple comes in. In 2007, they are set to launch a little piece of hardware called the iTV. It’s a wireless box that sits on top of your television and streams video from your computer to your TV with the push of a button.

Like digg.com, Rev3′s current line-up is targeted at the geekculture elite and the techno savvy. They do hope to expand their reach to other target audiences in the future with new vidcasts. Until then, I’m more than happy watching shows like diggnation, systm, and geekdrome. You can subscribe to all of their vidcasts using iTunes or download them directly to your computer from their site at revision3.com.

In case you’ve never seen an episode of diggnation, here is a little clip of their most popular show on the Rev3 network. The show is a weekly vidcast highlighting the top stories on digg.com for that given week.